The War on Dog Tattoos Has Begun

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We all had some laughs this week at a DNAinfo trend piece about Upper East Side dog owners getting temporary tattoos for their dogs. Less funny was the guy in North Carolina last month who got elaborate real tattoos on his dogs’ bellies, ostensibly for identification but also because, “it’s just art; I’m an artist, I want to put art on my dogs.” Now New York State Assemblywoman Lina Rosenthal, who represents the Upper West side, has pointlessly escalated the situation by introducing a bill to make tattooing or piercing animals for reasons other than identification illegal. She cites no evidence that the practice takes place here in New York, but rather says she got the idea from a 2010 case in Pennsylvania. That person was convicted of animal cruelty, which is already against the lawhere.